After taking almost a month off to make way for NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage, Saturday Night Live returned to a much different world, thanks to war in Ukraine. But Lorne Michaels could count on John Mulaney to right the ship, right? Right?!?
What’s The Deal For The SNL Cold Open For Last Night (02/26/22)?
Talk about a cold opening. SNL ditched any idea for a comedic start to the show, instead having Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon introduce the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York to perform “Prayer for Ukraine.” Which they sang in front of two bouquets of sunflowers, with white candles in the middle spelling out KYIV, that nation’s capital city. Look. The Studio 60 train left the SNL station way back around the 2016 election when McKinnon performed “Hallelujah” on the piano, so I don’t know why any of us expected them to handle this situation any differently. Still, a weirdly somber note for America’s longest-running comedy showcase to open on, considering the president of Ukraine is a comedian, too.
How Did The SNL Guest Host John Mulaney Do?
For a stand-up comedian and former SNL writer not previously known to be much of an actor while he was employed by the show, Mulaney has quickly proven himself one of its stalwart hosts, coming back five times since 2018.
Of course, you’d expect a great monologue out of Mulaney, even if he hadn’t spent the time since his fourth SNL hosting gig in rehab for drugs and alcohol abuse, getting a divorce, then getting his celebrity girlfriend Olivia Munn pregnant, and then going out on a new stand-up tour, all in just the past year and change. While he didn’t touch too much on the timeline of his domestic situation, he did make plenty of light about his intervention and rehabilitation, elaborating more on the former (for those Mulaney fans who’d previously heard him dish to Seth Meyers), and as for the latter, revealing how he might have become the first addict to turn an innocent man into a drug dealer?!
His first sketch out of the gates was a wild one, presiding over a court case in which a woman (Melissa Villasenor) had gotten mauled by her neighbor’s monkey. Her lawyer (Kenan Thompson) figured the case would be a slam-dunk if they could just get a good judge. “We got the monkey judge!” Would Hon. Judge Tango be swayed instead by Cecily Strong’s defense, which included a cake and sign-language? Or could Kenan find a way to get back into Tango’s good graces? Tune in this time to MONKEY JUDGE!
Of course there’d be another installment of his series of only in New York City musicals. “Subway Churro” didn’t have quite everything, as Pete Davidson sent in his excuse slip so he could work on a movie instead? With Kenan singing about “some enchanted churro,” Mulaney wondering “if I were a mole man,” Cecily reviving South Pacific but “high on bath salts,” Alex Moffat in a trench coat dancing while singing “I’m fapping on the train!” Kyle Mooney as the Dear Evan Hansen kid trying to belt out “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” and Kate as a mystery liquid on the floor, Aidy Bryant as a beer-drinking Jesus, and the folks from LCD Soundsystem as Guardian Angels. Well, OK, maybe this musical did have almost everything.
For us folks in Generation X, we got treated to a throwback to the classic Nickelodeon show that started it all, and started the slime tradition, too, with Cecily, Melissa, Sarah Squirm, Mulaney, Chloe Fineman, Kyle and Alex bringing us back to 1980 for a satirical re-enactment of seminal slime moments from “You Can’t Do That On Television.”
The “please don’t destroy” boys returned for the Generation Z kids, this time celebrating the arrival of, finally, a good, cool variant of COVID? Does Gen Z think Al Roker is cool?
Other sketches included a pre-taped bit where he and Strong strong-armed Heidi Gardner into buying the premium Blue River dog food. How much does that extra 32 cents a day really matter? Let them tell you! And then they’ll make it even weirder. I don’t even want to get into the COVID Dinner Discussion sketch, which is either meta or ironic, but let’s just say they really capture that coastal elite esthetic.
How Relevant Was The Musical Guest LCD Soundsystem?
LCD Soundsystem had never performed on SNL before now? Really?! Alrighty then. the band reunited last year for a Brooklyn residency that got cut short by the Omicron variant, but are scheduled for a series of shows in Philadelphia and Boston this spring. For their two song selections on the show, they went back to 2005. First, for “Thrills.”
And then for “Yr City’s a Sucker,” introduced by Mulaney still splattered in green slime.
Which Sketch Will We Be Sharing: “Five-Timers Club”
They didn’t do this for Paul Rudd earlier this winter when everyone bailed on the live show he hosted for his fifth time, so Rudd came back to join Mulaney in this ever-growing tradition — and the sketch mocked just how much the Five-Timers Club has grown. Including Steve Martin, Candice Bergen, Elliott Gould, Tina Fey, and Conan O’Brien, who appeared in the very first Five-Timers Club sketch back when Conan was but an unknown TV writer. And boy, did Conan really shake things up!
“Did somebody say not special?”
Even after flubbing a line and covering with a miming action that he’d been drinking, O’Brien kept almost breaking Mulaney, and even twice uttered the line “LIVE FROM NEW YORK” to close it out.
Who Stopped By Weekend Update?
NOBODY. Nobody stopped by the Update desk. “Oops! All jokes,” Colin Jost said at the end of his headlines to punchlines segment with Michael Che.
What Sketch Filled The “10-to-1” Slot?
At 12:55 a.m. Eastern, and almost exactly three years since Mulaney joined Ego Nwodim for the “Cha Cha Slide” at her cousin’s wedding, Mulaney recoupled with Ego for her Robinson Family Reunion. Where, once again, Mulaney misled his partner into thinking he might feel out of place, only to fit right in on the dance floor and with everyone around.
Who Was The Episode’s MVP?
One of the reasons Mulaney keeps getting asked back: He makes everyone on the show better. Which you’d think would make him the MVP. But no. This week’s episode clearly got carried by Cecily Strong. She opened the show, prevailed upon the Monkey Judge, belted out Broadway show tunes, and got hit by “concrete” Nickelodeon slime. She’d taken January off for her own one-woman show, but Strong reminded us she’s not done with SNL just yet.
Next week, Oscar Isaac hosts with musical guest Charli XCX!
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.
Watch Saturday Night Live Season 47 Episode 13 on Peacock